Friday, June 9, 2017

Order in the Court: Trump Continues to Nominate Stellar Judges for Vacancies

Over the last week, President Trump has nominated 21 judges to fill various lower Federal Court openings, including 8 who were named this past Wednesday. Currently, there are 132 judicial openings throughout the Federal Court system, nearly half the openings have been classified as “judicial emergencies” by the government's Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. The most recent batch of judicial nominations is receiving the praise of conservative and libertarian legal scholars and leaders.

This week, in an echo of how the 21 contenders for the Supreme Court vacancy were rolled out during the presidential campaign, 11 would-be black-robers join last month’s stellar list of 10 lower-court nominees . . . Case Western law professor Jonathan Adler, who appeared with me on a panel at Cato’s 40th anniversary celebration right before the May 8 announcement, says they’re “‘incredibly strong nominees’ who were within the judicial mainstream and should ‘have an intellectual influence on their courts.’” As they say in Congress, I wish to associate myself with that analysis—and to extend those remarks to apply to all the nominees we’ve seen thus far. . . .

If the other eight announced June 7 are of the same caliber as these three (and the previous 10)—and we have no reason to think otherwise given that the administration’s nominations staff is the same—then this is the sort of #winning of which I won’t ever tire . . . In the meantime, the White House counsel’s office should just keep these black-robe orders coming. Their work, and that of the Federalist Society’s Leonard Leo, has allowed President Trump—regardless of what else he does with his time—to continue fulfilling what was probably his most important campaign promise: to appoint “the best” judges.

The Washington Times also published an article praising of these nominees and provided a brief expose of a few nominees that stand out:

Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director of the Judicial Crisis Network, called the latest wave of nominees “a fantastic list.” . . . “Many of the nominees are well known in the conservative legal movement and have shown commitment to principled and evenhanded application of the law throughout their careers,” she said. “For the many Americans whose top concern in November was electing a president who would put committed constitutionalists to the courts, this is another major victory.”

According to Fox News, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) released a statement on President Trump’s judicial nominees lauding their pick:

President Obama understood the singular importance of the lower courts, which is why he was so vigorous in appointing judges with a greater commitment to the liberal political agenda than to our Constitution . . . [However, t]he time has come to right the wrongs of the previous administration . . . These supremely qualified jurists will restore respect and credibility to the judicial branch by saying what the law is—not what it ought to be.

The RNLA praises President Trump and his Administration's work to fill the vacancies on the Federal Bench. These judges are an important step towards ensure the Rule of Law is applied and the Constitution is followed. We look forward to seeing many more judges with impeccable records, like the last score of judges nominated.